Car-lighting system.



E. 0. FOLSOM. GAR LIGHTING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED APRJS, 1908 932, 1 14.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

P 2 (K A C) N WITNESSES: a

EDWARD C. FOLSOM, 0F SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

CAR-LIGHT ING- SYSTEIJL Specification of Letters Fatent.

Application filed April 16, 1908. Serial No. 427,395.

To all whom it may concern:

it known that I, EDWARD O. Fonson, a citizen of the United States,residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Lighting Sytems; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electric systems, and more particularly ingsystems.

In the following specification I have shown and described my inventionas applied to street and interurban cars but the invention is applicableto other uses as well.

Heretofore car lighting circuits have been so arranged that theinsertion of a headlight in its socket completes the circuit and lightsthe car lamps as well as the headlight. Several disadvantages pertain tothis arrangement. The motorman when at the end of the line in .st movehis headlight from end to end of the car during which time the car is indarkness. Furthermore, in reversing the current to back the car, noheadlight is automatically displayed on the rear end of light ng to carlightthe car as a warning to following cars on the line. Again itrequires a special wiring for the platform lights which wiring, it isassumed will shunt the current around and not through the front platformlight. The fore going arrangement does not give the motorman anautomatic control of the headlight and p12 irm light circuits. Anotherar rangement shows a circuit wherein the cur rent is led from its sourcedirectly to the contacts controlled by the movement of the reversecylinder and thence to the lamps in the car. This is a step in advanceof the former construction because the movement of the reverse cylinderto off position will extin uish the headlight at the front end of thecar, whereas movement of the cylinder to its forward or backwardposition will not extinguish the headlight. The objections to thisconstruction however are that the movement of the reverse cylinder toits backward position, to back the car, will not automatically send acircuit through the rear headlight, and furthermore,

are current is led from the trolley wire, third rail or other sourcedirectly to the reverse cylinder and thence to the lamps in the car, theresult being that movement of the cylinder is very liable to cause ashort circuit between the contacts and burn out the lighting circuit.Furthermore, the lights in the car are extinguished from. the time themotori an moves the reverse cylinder at one end of the car to oilposition until he moves the :ydinder at the opposite end. of the car toits forward position, as when the car is at the end of the line, forinstance.

One object of my invention therefore, is to provide means whereby theheadlight at the rear end of the car is automatically lighted when thereverse cylinder is moved to its rearward position to back the car.

Another object is to provide means whereby the car lamps remain lightedno matter what positions may be assumed by the reverse cylinders.

A further object is the provision of a circuit so arranged as to avoidany danger of short circuiting the lighting circuit when the reversecylinder is operated.

Still another object is the provision of means attaining the foregoingends which re quires no additional action on the part of the motorman.In other words, the motorman in fulfilling his necessary dutiesautomatically accomplishes the results desired.

A still further object is the automatic extinguishment of the vestibuleor platform light at the forward end of the car when the headlight islighted.

My invention further consists in certain novel features and combinationsall of which will be more fully described hereinafter and particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing oneform of my invention, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the reverse cylindershowing the contacts.

(1), (1), indicate the interior car lamps located in any convenientmanner, (2), (3) indicate the vestibule or (4), (5), the headlightslocated ends of the car respectively.

The cement is led into the car by a supply wire (6) from any suitablesource as underground or overhead trolley or a third rail. A handoperated switch (7) may for convenience be interposed in the supply wire(6) if desired. The wire (6) is connected to a wire (8) intermediate itsends, the wire (8) supplying the interior lamps (l), (l), in the carwith current.

A, A, indicate the reverse cylinders at opat opposite Patented Aug. 24,1909.

platform lights and posite ends of the car respectively. Convenientlylocated on each reverse cylinder and moving therewith are contactsegments adapted to be engaged by the series of vertically arrangedfingers (9), (10), (11), and (12) respectively, which 1 gers arepreferably of even length. The segments may be of any desiredconstruction, that shown consisting of a main contact segment (13) withwhich the finger (10) is constantly in engagement, and the sections(14), (15), and (16) adapted to be engaged by the fingers (9), (11),(12) respectively and arranged in successive arcs upon the periphery ofthe reverse cylinder in such a manner that when a circuit is closedthrough one of the fingers (9), (11) or (12) and its correspondingsection (1 1), (15) or (16) the remaining circuits except thelampcircuit will be open. Obviously any arrangement whereby the contactfingers and contacts are caused to successively make and break theirrespective circuits might be utilized. In the drawings the section (16)is connected with the main segment (13) by means of a buried orotherwise insulated connection (17). The opposite ends of the wire (8)supplying the lamp circuit terminate in the fmgers (10), (10), inconstant engagement with the main contact segments (13), (13) at theopposite ends of the car and I shall call this circuit the lamp circuit.

A platform light circuit is energized through the lamp circuit and isarranged at each end of the car. Such circuit consists of the contactfingers (9), a conductor (18), connecting the finger (9) and theplatform light (2 at the adjacent end of the car and a ground wire (19)leading from the platform light and grounded through the wheels of thecar. The platform light circuit at the opposite end of the car isprecisely like that just described.

A headlight circuit at each end of the car energized through the lampcircuit consists of the finger (11), a conductor (20) leading from thefinger to the adjacent headlight 1) and a wire (21) connecting theheadlight and the grounded wire (19). A reverse circuit at each end ofthe car similarly energized consists of the finger (12), and a conductor(22 leading from such fhiger to the head light circuit at the oppositeend of the car.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Assume that the car is totravel in the direction indicated by the arrow. The motorman uponstarting out throws the reverse lever at the front end of the car fromits off or intermediate position to its forward or "ahead position tocause the car to travel forwardly, th speed of the car being regulatedby means of the controller handle. The movement of the reverse leverpartially so doing brings section (15) of the contacts carried orotherwise actuated by the cylinrotates the reverse cylinder and in theground.

der into engagement with the stationary finger (11) to energize thefront headlightcircuit and hghtthe headlight. This circuit is traced asfollows: The circuit enters the lamp wire (8) through supply wire (6) att which point the current branches. (hie portion of the current passesthrough the lamps (1), (1), in the front half of the car, thence intothe contact finger (10), contact segment (13), contact section 15),contact finger (11), headlight conductor (20), headlight 1), and by wayof wires (21) and (19) to the ground. anwhile the reverse cylinder atthe rear end of the car is its intermediate or off position at whichtime contact fingers (9) and (10) are in engagement with the contactsection (1 1) and main segment (13) respectively on cylinder A. A partof the current entering the car through the supply wire (6) passes alongwire (8) and the lamps (1), (1), to the con tact finger (10) at the rearend of the car, 'nto main contact segment (13) on the rear reversecylinder (11) into contact section (14), contact fin er (9), conductor(18), rear platform light (3), and wire (19") to the ground. hus it willbe seen that when moving forward, the car lamps, and the frontheadlight 1) arelighted. T re front platform light is extinguished owingto the open circuit between finger (9) and contact section (14).Assuming that it becomes necessary to reverse the power to cause the carto run backward, the motorman will swing his reverse lever at the frontend of the car from its forward or ahead position to its rearward orback position pass ing the off or intermediate position in its swing.The long main segment (13) will remain in engagement with the contactfinger (10), contact section (1 1) will first engage and then pass frombeneath finger (9) and substantially simultaneously with thedisengagement of section (14) with finger (9), the reverse circuitsection (16) will engage the finger (12). The current then passesthrough the lamps (1), (1) at the front end of the car via wire (8),contact finger (10), segment (13), conductor (17), section (16), finger(12), and conductor (22) to the rear headlight conductor (20), rearheadlight (5), and wires (21) and (19) to The rear headlight is thusautomatically lighted when the car is backing up, the front headlightbeing extinguished. The lighting of the rear headlight under thesecircumstances serves to warn a car following, that the car in front isbacking up. It also enables the conductor on the rear platform to watchthe track. (7) is thrown open when the lighting system is not required,as in daytime for instance or when the car is in the barn. It will beobserved that so long as the switch (7) is closed the cylinders A and Amay occupy any of their three positions without cutting out the carlamps (1), (1). The motorman while maintaining control of the headlightand platform light circuits is not required to do any extra work such asturning a switch on or oil, but the results desired are attained in theusual course of current control. Neither is there any danger of the lampcircuit burning out owing to arcing or short circuiting between thefingers and their contact segments, because the lamp circuit finger (10)is always in engagement with its segment (13) and the current is ledinto the lamp circuit before it is led to the reverse cylinder contacts.Furthermore, the contacts on the cylinder are so arranged relative tothe fingers that the circuit is never broken between the supply wire (6)and the ground, one of the fii'igers (9), (11) or (12) always being inengagement with its re spective segment.

It will be understood that the lighting system herein described isindependent of the power circuit. Also, that the contacts may beotherwise located apart from the reverse cylinder providing they arearranged. to opcrate automatically and coincidently with the operationof the reverse cylinder. The fingers instead of being stationary may bemovable relative to a series of corresponding fixed contact sections andother changes might be made in the form and arrangement of the severalparts described without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim as new is:-

1. The combination with a car or train having a headlight at each end,of a power controller having a reverse cylinder for causing the car totravel orward or backward, and electrical means automatically energizedthrough the movement of the reverse cylinder for lighting eitherheadlight depending upon the direction in which the car is to travel.

2. The combination with a car or train having a headlight at each end,and a power controller having a reverse cylinder capaljde of controllingthe forward or backward movement of the car or train, of separatecircuits for the respective headlights, one or the other of theheadlight circuits being energized synchronously with the movement ofthe reverse cylinder.

3. The combination with an. electrically propelled vehicle having aheadlight at each end, and a cylinder for reversing the direction of thecurrent, of separate headlight circuits controlled by the movement ofthe reverse cylinder to forward or backward position to light the frontor back headli ht respectively.

4. The combination with an electrically propelled vehicle having aheadlight at each end, and a cylinder for reversing the direction of thepower current, of circuit for each headlight, and make and break devicescontrolled by the movement of the reverse cylinder from forward tobackward position and vice versa to light the front or back headlightrespectively.

5. A headlight system for cars, comprising a headlight at each end ofthe car, a main lighting circuit, a single reverse cylinder in the mainlighting ci cuit, a make and break device controlled by the movement ofthe rc verse cylinder, the main lighting circuit being branched at themake and break device, the branch circuits including the respectiveheadli hts, the operation of the reverse cylinder adapted to close onebranch circuit and open the remaining branch circuit accordingly as thecar is to be propelled forward or backward.

6. A headlight system for cars, comprising a headlight at each end ofthe car, a main lighting circuit, a single reverse cylinder, a make andbreak switch having at least three poles and controlled by the movementof the cylinder, the main lighting circuit in constant contact with onepole of the switch, separate lamp circuits including the respective headlights, the lamp circuits connected to the remaining poles respectivelyof the switch, the operation of the reverse cylinder ad apted to connectone lamp circuit with the main lighting: circuit and break the connection between the remaining lamp circuit and the main lighting circuitaccordingly as tle car is to be propelled forward or backward.

7. A lighting system for cars comprising a headligi t at each end of thecar, a power controller having a reverse cylinder, a lamp circuit, asource of electricity connected with the lamp circuit, a headlightcircuit for each headlight, and make and break devices controlled by themovement of the reverse cylinder for making and breaking a connectionbetween the lamp circuit and one or the other of the headlight circuits.

8. A car lighting system comprising readlights and platform lights atopposite ends of the cars, a lamp circuit, a source of electricitydirectly connected with the lamp circuit a power controller having areverse c linder, separate headlight and platform light circuits, a makeand break. device controlled by the movement of the reverse cylinder formaking and breaking connections between the headlight circuits and thelamp circuit respectively, according as the car is to be propelledforward or backward, and a similarly controlled make and break devicefor maintaining a connection between the rear platform light circuit andthe lamp circuit when the car is to be propelled forwardly.

9. A car lighting system comprising a lamp circuit adapted to bedirectly connected with a suitable electrical source, headlights 10. Acar lighting system comprising at opposite ends of the car, a headlightcir cuit for each headlight, a power controller having a reversecylinder for reversing the direction of the power current, and make andbreak devices controlled by the reverse cylinder for connecting one orthe other of the headlight circuits with the lamp circuit according asthe car is to be propelled 'l'or ward or backward, and maintaining thelamp circuit closed during the making and breaking of the headlightcircuits.

a lamp circuit in direct communication with an electrical source, apower controller having a reverse cylinder for reversing the directionof the power current, a contact fin in which one end 01' the lampcircuit terminates, a contact segment in constant engagement with thefinger, platform light, headlight and reverse circuits, fingers in whichone end of each of the platform light, headlight and reverse circuitsterminates, contact sections connected with the contact segment, thesections controlled by the movement of the reverse cylinder and soarranged relative to each other as to make and break connection with theheadlight circuit, the platform light circuit and the reverse circuitrespectively, and a grounded conductor with which the platform andheadlight circuits are connected.

11. A car lighting system comprising a lamp circuit in directcommunication intermediate its ends with a source of electricity, lampson each side of such communication, a reverse cylinder, a headlight anda platform light at opposite ends of the car, the reverse cylinders eachhaving three positions to reverse the direction of the power current andto cut oil the power current, contact sections movable synchronouslywith each reverse cylinder and arranged respectively in positionscorresponding to the three positions of the cylinders, fingersconstituting the lamp circuit terminals, contact segments with which thefingers are in constant engagement, a platform li ht circuit, aheadlight circuit and a reverse circuit for each cylinder, separatefingers in which one end of each of the platform light, headlight andreverse circuits terminate, and grounded conductors in which theopposite ends of the headlight, and platform light circuits at therespective ends of the car terminate, the remaining terminals of thereverse circuits connected to the head light circuits at the oppositeends of the car respectively, the contact sections adapted tosuccessively engage the headlight, platform light and reverse circuitfingers respectively as one or the other of the reverse cylinders ismoved to forward, intermediate or backward position and being inelectrical connection with the respective main contact segments.

12. A. car lighting system comprising a platform light, a powercontroller comprising a reverse cylinder for reversing the direction ofthe power current, a lamp circuit directly connected with an electricalsource, plat form light circuit independent oi the lamp circuit, oneterminal of the platform light circuit being grounded and make and breakdevices controlled by the movement of the reverse cylinder for makingand breaking connection between the lamp circuit and the platform lightcircuit.

13. A car lighting system comprising a lamp circuit directly connectedwith a source of electrical energy, headlights at opposite ends of thecar, a headlight circuit for each headlight, one terminal of eachheadlight circuit being grounded, a power controller comprising areverse cylinder for reversing the direction of the power current, andmake and break devices controlled by the movement of the reversecylinder for making and breaking connection between the lamp circuit i dthe respective headlight circuits according as the car is to bepropelled forward or backward.

14. A car lighting system comprising means for controlling theapplication of power to operate the car in a forward or backwarddirection, headlights at opposite ends of the car and a switch adaptedto be operated by the controlling means for closing or opening anelectrical circuit through one or the other of said headlightsaccordingly as the power is applied to operate the car in one directionor the other. I

15. A car lighting system comprising a suitably energized lamp circuit,I separate lights, a lighting circuit for each light, the lightingcircuits being independent of each other, a single means for reversingthe power to propel the carin opposite directions, and make and breakdevices controlled by the movement of such reversing means to connectone or the other of the respective lighting circuits with the lampcircuit, accordingly as power is applied to propel the car forward orbackward.

16. A car lighting system comprising a main lighting circuit, lampcircuits, a headlight in each lamp circuit, a balancing light circuitfor each lamp circuit, lights in the respective balancing circuits.reversing cylinders for reversing the to propel the car forward orbackward or cut out the power, and make and break devices interposedbetween and connected to the main lighting circuit and to both lampcircuits and to a balancing ligl'it circuit respectively, the make andbreak devices being controlled by the movement of their respectivereversing cylinders for connecting one or the other of the lamp circuitswith the main lighting circuit and simultaneously disconnecting one ofthe balancm j light circuits relative to the main lighting circuitaccordingly as power l is applied to propel the car in one direction orthe other, and for cutting in its respective balancing circuit andsimultaneously cutting out one or the other of the lamp circuits whenthe power is off.

17. A headlight system comprising a headlight at each end of the car, alighting circuit including one of the headlights, a re verse circuitbranching from the lighting circuit, the other headlight included insuch reverse circuit, a single power controller having a reversecylinder and a make and break device movable synchronously with thereverse cylinder and located at the juncture of the reverse circuit withthe lighting circuit for closing one circuit and opening the otheraccordingly as the car is to be propelled forward. or backward.

18. A car lighting system comprising suitably energized branchedlighting Wire, lamps on each branch, a headlight at each end of the car,headlight circuits connected to the respective headlights, make andbreak device located between each branch lighting Wire and its headlightcircuit, cylinders for reversing the power to pro rel the car in theopposite directions, the cy inders controlling the make and breakdevices to connect one or the other of ,the headlight circuits with itsrespective branch lighting Wire, and reverse conductors extending fromone make and break device to the opposite headlight circuit to energizethe headlight at the rear end of the car, when the car is propelledbackward.

19. A car lighting system comprising a suitably energized lighting Wire,a headlight at each end of the car, a headlight circuit for eachheadlight, a platform light, a plat form light circuit for the platformlight, means for reversing the power to propel the car in oppositedirections, a make and break device controlled by the movement of suchreversing means for connecting one or the other of the headlightcircuits With the light ing Wire accordingly as power is applied toropel the car forward or backward and to out in or out the platformlight circuit with relation to the lighting Wire accordingly as thereversing means is at its intermediate position or not.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDiVA'iD C. FOLSOM. Witnesses CnAnLns D. SHAW, Jr.. HARRY S. STEELE.

